Daily Edition: Mar. 14, 2006 Page 3

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Motor vehicle
occupants have a 17-percent greater chance of being killed if they are in a
crash in a state with a secondary enforcement seatbelt law than in a state with a stronger primary
enforcement law according to a new study of crash fatality data from 2000-04 by
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The study found that
the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in states not
having primary enforcement laws was 1.21, compared to 1.03 in states with
primary enforcement, or 17 percent higher. The fatality rate per 100,000
population was 23 percent higher in states not having primary enforcement laws.
Fatality rates were higher for all age groups in the states not having primary
enforcement seatbelt laws.